1 . Recently, TikTok’s parent ByteDance has published an update to its corporate structure, mapping out an organization that seems to conflict with Congress’s ________ of how the company operates.

A．pursuit

B．ambition

C．transformation

D．interpretation

2 . Indeed, last year, Google showed off a pair of smart glasses that can translate foreign languages in real time by displaying the ________ text over the lenses.

A．controversial

B．corresponding

C．characteristic

D．subsequent

3 . Sociology seems to be saying that those who have wealth and do well do so _________ the poor unfortunate.

A．on top of

B．with regard to

C．at the expense of

D．on account of

4 . Directions：Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s)of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

If you’ve ever sent an email that started with the words ”Just sending a friendly reminder to please...“ we have some bad news for you: It probably backfired. Not only are “friendly reminder” emails one of the annoying email habits you have, but everyone also secretly hates them.

To you, reminder email could simply be “a friendly way to ask for something that’s late,” Fast Company writes. But unfortunately, that might not be the message coming across to your coworkers. You need to quit this bad email habit and stop sending them immediately, and here’s why.

For one, if you use “hedge words” such as “kind of,” “maybe,” “probably.” etc., they will decrease your credibility with your coworkers. Although you might insert those phrases for a softer tone, they also make you sound insecure and not confident. Be clear with your choice of words, choosing the straightforward “sending a reminder,“ instead. Trust you’re your employees will appreciate the directness.

But that’s not even the worst part. It’s also easy for those reminder emails to get lost in people’s inboxes, if not ignored immediately. With countless emails flooding in per day, yours could easily get lost in the shuffle. Very likely, your coworkers will hit the ”delete“ button.

Still, you need to get their attention somehow, right? After all, you have a job to do! Once you send the classic reminder email, try scheduling a meeting with the person via calendar invite. Even re-sending the classic reminder email with a red “urgent” flag could do the trick. Doing so is practically guaranteed to get the message across - and still save face with your coworkers.

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5 .

A．He isn’t going out now.

B．He doesn’t want to return the book.

C．The library is closing soon.

D．He can’t help the woman.

6 . Personality may play only a small part in leadership effectiveness, but there is no doubt that some leaders have a certain magic that leaves peers envious and followers entranced. If you could bottle this leadership X-factor—charisma—the queue of interested executives would be a long-one. But what qualities can these often highly successful leaders be said to possess?

As individuals, charismatic leaders have highly developed communication skills, including the ability to convey emotions easily and naturally to others, says Ronald Riggio, professor of leadership and organizational psychology. “They are able to inspire and arouse the emotions of followers through their emotional expressiveness and verbal skills.”

“They connect with followers because they seem to truly understand others’ feelings and concerns.”

“And they are great role models because they have the ability to engage others socially and display appropriate role-playing skills that allow them to walk the talk” Professor Riggio says.

“One quality we like in our leaders is if they are seen to really represent us. We think someone is more charismatic, the more they represent our collective identity,” Professor Van Knippenberg says. In this way, a charismatic leader is somehow a larger-than-life version of ourselves.

Academics say that charismatic leaders also manage to stand out from the crowd. They might do this by being unconventional or by taking a different approach to problem-solving, for example.

“They are up for new things, and they are not stuck in the status quo. They are open to out-of-the-box thinking, etc. An optimistic, energetic quality helps us to see leadership qualities in them and makes us open to their influence,” he says.

“A lot of charismatic leadership, and leadership in general, is very contextual. It’s really good in entrepreneurial firms. It’s also good for turnarounds if the organization is in a bad state because it inspires”, says Kai Peters, the chief executive of Ashridge Business School.

But not every organization needs a charismatic leader. Leaders loaded with the X-factor can be narcissistic (自恋的), self-glorifying, exploitative and authoritarian. As Peters says: “Where it is a problem is where you have ‘look at me, I’m a star.’’’

1. Which word is closest in meaning to “charisma” in the first paragraph?

A．Charm.

B．Character.

C．Gratitude.

D．Optimism.

2. The charismatic leaders become great role models due to their ______.

A．proper role-playing skills	B．subtle emotional expressiveness
C．marvellous problem-solving ability	D．unconventionality in the crowds

3. According to Professor Knippenberg, what kind of leaders would be welcomed by us?

A．The one who has a heroical image.

B．The one who can speak for us.

C．The one who is a collective version of us.

D．The one who resembles us in characteristic.

4. What is Peters’ attitude towards the contextual feature of charismatic leadership?

A．Critical.

B．Approved.

C．Neutral.

D．Suspicious.

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

You know that the business of business is making money. What you may not realize is     1    simple that business is. You need two fundamental ingredients — a good product that customers want to own, and bright, charismatic people who will     2    sell it and, if necessary, defend it. And of the two —    3    (desire) product and competent people — good people are, in the long run, more important than good products.

You can’t expect to produce one popular product after another. You can, however, cover your bets by staffing your enterprise with superb employees who will continue to reflect the company’s strengths     4    the products are weak. It is your responsibility to keep those employees     5    (perform) as well as they can. They won’t remain superb     6    reliable leadership and, infact, there is a perfect time to address this issue. Most successful companies have a defining moment     7    profits are skyrocketing, and business     8    not be better. That is precisely the time to look closely at your customer service. That you are earning more money than ever before     9    (indicate) your product is terrific, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the same about your customer service. It is the ideal time to examine your reputation and expand the success you are earning from your product to include customer service.

Every business wants to be known for its customer service. Although even a slow but steady giant such as Radio Shack Corporation will often come up with a hot product, it is its customer service     10    keeps it in business year after year.

8 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.encouraged	B. excuse	C. featured	D. favor	E. approaches	F. defended
G. access	H. serve	I. regional	J. celebrated	K. lengths

When Coca-Cola was first sold in 1886, nobody thought it could be improved. Nearly a century later, in 1985, New Coke was introduced to replace the original recipe of Coke in order to rebrand the product amidst falling sales——Coke was losing customers to Pepsi, whose sweeter taste was finding     1    . Unfortunately, the Coca-Cola Company saw a significant drop in sales soon after the release of New Coke. Some customers just preferred the “classic” recipe. The old adage(格言), “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” seems to apply here.

Something similar is happening with A Bite of China, a     2     food documentary focusing on the stories, traditions and culture surrounding interesting regional dishes from around China. The first two seasons of the show saw great success. However, when the third season began last month, the reviewers were not so “sweet”. With an entirely new production team, Season Three steers away from(偏离) the show’s core focus on     3     dishes and towards intimate life stories, non-food-related subject matter and even product placement(植入广告).

In the first episode of Season Two, a teenager in the countryside collects honey high up in a tree. The scene is stunningly filmed, telling a moving story about the dangerous     4     to which people go to gather food for their families. In the third season, however, the focus is taken almost completely away from the food. In one of its most infamous episodes, DIY lipstick using questionable ingredients bought online is     5    . Viewer response has been swift and severe, with several commentators wondering whether it is still suitable to call the show a food documentary. The production crew have     6     the changes, claiming that the innovation is meant to keep the show fresh and interesting to an expanding audience. While this may     7     in part, to explain the show’s creative differences from previous seasons, it doesn’t     8     the show’s declining professionalism, which has led to some silly mistakes such as mixing up ingredients or confusing the correct names of regional dishes.

Innovation is generally     9     in industries big and small, but a winning formula that has popular     10     is not necessarily something that requires changes. Innovation is a tool often best used when a new direction is called for. By trying to reinvent the wheel, one might just end up with a flat tire. It’s time that A Bite of China took a page out of Coca-Cola’s playbook and returned to the classic recipe, where success has never tasted so sweet.

9 . A police spokesman said if the man had gone much further in opening the letter, he _________ killed.

A．may be

B．could have been

C．would be

D．should have been

10 . I am not a morning person, but as I stand on the boulder (巨大的砾石) in the early dawn, my mind is sharp and alert. I am more than awake, concentrating on the vast endlessness below.

There is a noticeable lack of early birdsong here; no hiss of offshore wind fanning the waves. The only sound is my breath, heavy after the scramble to the top. It is by no means a difficult climb, but I had to hurry to beat the sun.

“If you stand at the top of Kubu Island just before sunrise,” said one of the returning visitors, “You can see the arc (弧线) of the Earth.”

He was right.

From up here the horizon cuts not so much a line as an arc.

Soon my feeling of being in the moment is replaced with something as strange and ancient as this place itself. My breathing calms and becomes shallow. My heartbeat slows. I am first surrounded by in silence. I am a tiny, shrinking spot. Then I disappear completely.

They say that astronauts looking down on Earth gain a sense of perspective that changes them forever. They begin to understand how much we are a part of our planet, and how much it is a part of us. The astronauts are 400 kilometres off the surface of Earth, and while the top of Kubu Island is only 10 metres high, there is something about this pile of boulders that sends you into orbit.

Kubu Island isn’t actually an island, but rather, an outcrop of ancient rocks that are up to two billions year old. It was once rested on the edge of a vast lake. As the water evaporated, it created the huge Makgadikgadi Pan (马卡迪卡迪盐沼盆地), one of the world’s largest salt pans.

Ancient tribes and civilizations have migrated and lived here, first to fish from its rocks and then to commune with nature and its spirits. Today, adventurers and tourists come here to marvel at this strange pile of boulders with baobab trees (猴面包树) growing out of it. These trees are estimated to be 3,000 or 4,000 years old; they are really impressive not only for their size but also because they seem to have so much to tell about the history of this island.

This is the gift that Kubu Island gives and the power that it has. This tiny, weird outcrop — if not in the middle of nowhere, then certainly on the edge of it — can give you a sense of yourself that very few places can. A sense of yourself as a person on this planet and, somehow, way beyond it.

1. Which of the following can best describe Kubu Island?

A．It is a “small” island, surrounded by waves and water.

B．It is an “ancient” island, featuring recreational activities.

C．It is a “dry” island, surrounded by a sea of salt.

D．It is a “remote” island, resting on the edge of a vast lake.

2. According to the passage, the underlined phrase “marvel at” probably means ________.

A．feel anxious for	B．pose danger to
C．be grateful to	D．be amazed at

3. The author’s purpose of writing this article was to ________.

A．recommend a unique travel route to a peaceful and silent island

B．encourage readers to reflect more on themselves while travelling

C．inform readers of a mysterious place that deserves to be explored

D．advise readers to visit an island which is peculiar in its original state